Information & Library Science

Medical

Military

adjective relating to a full-time professional force, with a proper organization and rank structure and regular training

noun a member of the regular armed forces (as opposed to a reservist, territorial or guerrilla)

Sports

adjective used for describing a stance on the board in which the rider’s left foot is nearer the front end

Origin & History of “regular”

Regular ‘according to a rule’ is the most instantly recognizable English descendant of Latin rēgula ‘rule’ (others includerail ‘bar’ and rule). It goes back ultimately to the same Indo-European base as produced Latin regere ‘rule’ (source of English rector, regent, etc) and rēx ‘king’ (source of English regal, royal, etc). from it was derived the late Latin verbrēgulāre, which has given English regulate (17th c.), and may also lie behindrile ‘annoy’ (19th c.), a variant of an earlier roil which was possibly imported via Old French ruiler ‘mix mortar’.